USA vs. England: Running Commentary

Good afternoon folks. The moment has arrived. USA vs. England. Can England exact revenge for the 1950 World Cup and the Revolutionary War? Can the Americans finally get payback for England subjecting us to Simon Cowell?

I’m kidding.

Today’s friendly will be a good test for both sides (despite what more cynical American fans and egotistical English fans might think). Landon Donovan will not play today, but there is still plenty to look forward to. How will the Americans do in a packed Wembley Stadium? We are about to find out.

I will do a running commentary throughout the match so feel free to follow along here. Please share your thoughts and opinions on the match in the comments section below.

Let’s get it started:

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FINAL- That’s all for today. Thanks for following the match here and be sure to check back in tomorrow for some post-match analysis.

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FINAL- England 2, USA 0. The AMericans were outclassed today and even if Landon Donovan had played I don’t think it would have mattered that much. He might have helped the U.S. team create some more good chances, but the overall quality of England’s starting XI was clear throughout the first half.

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93rd minute- When you consider that the first goal came off a set piece and the second courtesy of a blown assignment in midfield.

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90th minute- England has dominated play as most expected, but I have to say the U.S. defense didn’t do terribly today.

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89th minute- Anytime Peter Crouch sets up for a bicycle kick you have to just watch in amazement. It’s like a National Geographic episode.

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86th minute- Random question, do you think John Terry would go completely psycho if an American player brought up the missed PK?

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81st minute- Some very nice work from Eddie Lewis, who is making it clear that he can still contribute at his age. He deserves his chances when World Cup qualifying roles around.

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73rd minute- It’s impressive to watch England’s players break out on the counter. You really see the speed disparity between the teams.

England’s just knocking it around now.

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71st minute- Pearce with the yellow card for the foul on Bently. I thought Pearce had a pretty good first half actually.

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69th minute- Freddy Adu comes into the match. It will be interesting to see what he can do.

Also in the match now is Peter Crouch, which may make that the biggest disparity in size between two subs coming into the same match at the same time. (Someone call Guinness).

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63rd minute- As most expected, the American attack has been toothless without Landon Donovan and with Eddie Johnson and Josh Wolff. It’s time to start looking into getting some uncapped Brazilian forwards married to some American women or something because the U.S. forward pool needs some help (and that’s even with Jozy Altidore on the way).

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59th minute- Who to blame on that goal? Ricardo Clark gets lost in the midfield, leaving Gareth Barry completely unmarked and Barry has all day to deliver a perfect pass to Gerrard. Is that a preview of Liverpool next season?

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58th minute- GOAL ENGLAND. Steven Gerrard splits the American defense to make it 2-0 England.

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HALFTIME- England 1, USA 0. The Americans are lucky not to be down by two or three goals. Some tactical fouling and poor finishing by England has kept the Americans in the game. What needs to change? Josh Wolff has to come out of this match. Freddy Adu needs to come in. Ricardo Clark should come out as well but I’m not sure Bob Bradley will make two halftime subs.

Too bad for DeMerit. That’s got to hurt. He lived in Wembley when he first went to England in 2004. It would have been great for the guy to come full circle. and play in the stadium four years from rags to today’s riches.

I admit I peek at Jen Chang’s play-by-play to try and get info from both and so far all he’s got is:

3 mins: So far the ball is just pinging about the field, both teams have yet to settle down.

Pathetic!! Thank you Ives so much for being competent and knowing something about the game. Otherwise I’d be stuck with the only details from the game is that the ball is “pinging around” lolol give me a break.

Am I the only one who thinks John Terry looks pretty out of it? He has made several silly fouls and losses of possession? England are definently there for the taking if we get anything going in the final 3rd…

Hopefully Bradley will make changes at halftime. Without Donovan in the attack, this team looks so very flat. The 4-4-2 formation needs to be switched to something else that will work, but even that’s hard without Donovan available. Will we see Adu in the 2nd half?

their is no imagination no player who has the passing skills on the u.s. how can josh wolff be better in bradleys eyes then freddy adu, you have to be kidding me. we are totally outmatched without jozy and landon. PLEASE PUT FREDDY ADU IN HE IS OUR BEST PLAYER.

Pearce is leading my MOTM so far. EJ with a couple of positive plays, Bradley also. . Gooch OK, may have lost his Terry on the FK, but it was Clarks foul that gave them the chance (again!) way too many FK.

Dolo really struggling as is Dempsey on the right, getting eaten alive. DMB has not been a positive factor till now.

Pretty disapointing stuff, without Donovan we lack the speed our attack is usually dependent on against more talented teams. It doesn’t help that Dempsey and Wolff have been invisible and EJ ineffective in attack. Clark’s (and maybe even Bradley’s) tempermant is also very worrying, he just seems out of his depths (despite the nice cross he had)…

For England, Gerrard and Beckham have been their best players, though Hargreaves has dominated in the CDM role. They really should have scored 2 or 3 goals. I’m sure they will make big changes in the 2nd half bringing in Abonglahor, Young, Bentley, etc.

agree with ives, wolff has got to come off. he’s done nothing. EJ hasn’t set the world on fire, but they keep launching long balls over his head. he’s done better when he’s come further up field. i’d like to see and EJ/Adu pairing.

and also agree about rico, he’s really struggling out there.

BTW – wtf, how does rooney not get a yellow on that challenge, when stevie’s was soft as????

pretty sure clark is a sub on his best day for us…he’s terrible and really cant defend outside of fouling the crap out of someone..he’s also a bad passer. why’s he out there again? johnson wasnt nearly as bad as i thought he’d be but he really doesn’t belong either. who’s wolff? where’s wolff? does he play for us? oh he’s out there? who ‘s that again? huh?

Gooch isn’t having a really bad game, and doesn’t need to get off the field. Rooney’s challenge was hard but didn’t merit a yellow. Adu is our best player and could do better than who’s on for us now. etc. That’s all.

Yeah, here the usa needs to get some action going on this attack maybe involve the midfielders more. and also, i mean seriously why the did wolff start…ADU needed to be in there not only is he BETTER but hes still 19 folks he needs the experience lets face it Wolff is never gonna be in the next world cup . he’ll have retired by then.(probably)Adu is just much more needed up top

Very nice passing sequence by England. worked the triangle very well. Defoe gives a little touch to barry, (same time gerrard is running in between two US defenders toward goal), barry one-times a low through pass to gerrard who seats guzan for an easy goal.

unbelievable Bradley won’t put in adu… really it’s unbelievable… when was the last time EJ had first team minutes??? Wolf got demoted from a Bundo leag 2 side… seriously ives.. please start being non-bias in reporting get off of Bradley’s tip and admit taht ti’s time we had a real coach… we’re the only developed nation that has an invalid as a coach… not even England insists on hiring an inbred coach just b/c he’s indigenious (mclaren not withstanding)… please Ives can you write a piec on teh ineptitudes of Bradley, his line up choice? and Nowak’s also while you’re at it??? something tells me Klingsman wouldn’t have Josh wolff started vs england for gododness sake…

I’m not even watching and I’m starting to get angry. What is going on?? What is Bradley doing? I haven’t seen Wolf or Dempsey’s name anywhere. Are they playing. Where is Adu. I bet he brings on Lewis. Guaranteed.

I’m fine with the idea that two mids are thinking about possession and defense, especially if they have finishing skills like MB does. We just need the right partner to emerge. Maybe that’s a good place for Dempsey as the 2nd, he’s played it before.

Here’s my take – the US seems to have a lot of role players. There are a lot fo very productive guys out there than can play good consistent soccer for good teams all over the world.

Now, start naming the Brits, and stop when you get to the first one that you’d replace with an American if you were building a team around a player. They’ve got Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Terry, and Ferdinand that you could put as the centerpiece of virtually any team in any league. They’ve also got Beckham, Hargreaves, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, DeFoe, and Owen (tho not all in this game) who aren’t quite the same level, but would go before any American except (maybe) Donovan, and the keepers.

They’re just better than we are, plain and simple. A great bunch of role-players wins titles in MLS with a salary cap, but they won’t win in the wide-open world of big-time soccer. Not now, not ever.

I think we should play a 4-1-2-2-1. Altidore up top with Beasley and Dempsey attacking on either side. Adu and Donovan should also play attacking mids. Put A defensive mid in there like Bradley or Edu. Then have our back 4. That way we could actually get all our talent on the pitch at once.

I like what ManicMessiah said. Spain’s ranked higher, so maybe we are hoping to pick off the higher ranked team. Also, what’s with Jonathan and his railing against Bradley. It’s one thing to dislike the tactics and lineups, it’s another to call him inbred.

About time Bradley made a good decision. He brought in Adu, a player with guts to attempt some offense. This team is just too timid and has no imagination from the years of being stuck on nothing but set-pieces style of offense.

Altidore, where art thou? Maybe in the next few games, we’ll see him. And hopefully Robbie Rogers. We need younger, fearless players with a combination of veterans. Eddie Johnson’s time has come and gone. So has Josh Wolff’s.

It’s such a tough call, “American Beckham” can still hit a good ball, and at least is in shape if he ain’t that fast. But he’s not the future. You don’t really want to see him, but then he hits some actual dangerous balls and your glad he’s there.

Wow, Eddie Lewis really has stayed ‘American Beckham’, that’s him to a T.

Can someone tell me why EJ deserved a start and not Adu? EJ has got the same amount of playing time over the last few months (none) as Adu, but Adu can at least stir up some excitement and not give away posession with every touch on the ball

This match can end, very disappointing, and it was doomed from the start as soon as we where stuck with poo-poo platter at forward, and just got worse with no Donovan, and a scant 23 mins from Adu. Freddy better get some big minutes in the next 2 games.

Well that was fun to watch. Getting beat to every loose ball, lack of precision. It was like watching DC except more important. That was not a hopeful game, even knowing that jozy and landon weren’t there and it was being played at Wembley.

Despite the two goals, much of the griping is going to be about the attack. the midfield and the debacle that was the starting forward tandem. EJ did OK, not as terrible as some have said here. but would expect better.

Well Ives.. the ball is in your court now.. you can either be a responsible journalist and correctly report the crap of a coaching job that bradley did, or you can continue to sing his prase for beating south africa, poland, canada, and a rag tag, mexican side on american soil… go ahead ives, rave about how the Copa didn’t realy count b/c we brought a B squad, or how our offense really opened up against Guatemala… I like your reporting Ives b/c you’re the only american socer reporter who truly loves the game, and goes after every bit of information you can find.. I’m going to lose a lot of respect if you don’t call for either a change of coaching philosophy or a change of coach after this exhibition of futility.

Not sure what good Bradley did, Pancho. He should be in your below average. And Gooch despite that first goal was great. EJ was actualyl better than expected. mostly becasue we expected a worse performance.

DMB should get a pass. He’s just working himself back. Dempsey wasn’t bad. But below average.

Chiva, nice summary. You are right. D was OK despite losing 2-0. Central Defense was not too shabby, coulda been better but has been a lot worse. Pearce held his own. Dolo had an off night, Hejduk helped when he came on.

I’m attending the game in Spain as well as the Argentina game. Would be nice to see Adu in from the beginning. He holds possession better than any other Forward on this roster. Will be disappointed if BB trots out Wolff again, or Jaqua.

I think EJ wasn’t horrible, given who’s there. It’s Wolff who really needs to not play. I agree with Ives, I was pretty happy with our backline, Gooch was good and Pearce hopefully extended his run as the man out left. Dolo had an off day, but I’m not over eager to replace him.

This is a game U.S. would like to forget. With the exception of Adu, Dempsey (at times), and Eddie Lewis, no one could hold the ball against the pressure of England. I am glad we played England, but it shows how much work U.S. still needs to do.

Also, I’d like to find out exactly what Fulham management had been snorting to sign Eddie Johnson. May be the guy is good in training and he does have speed, but he just cannot seem to do anything with the ball, other than pass it back or lose it to an opponent.

I presume Altidore is injured; otherwise, I don’t understand why he did not play.

As for the English team, looking at their players, I think they are punching waay below their weight internationally. They have a very good team. Cudos to Croatia and Russia for beating a team of this quality.

I was pretty happy with MB, he made some good tackles and was in the better half of our side. Some turnovers, but he was solid. But how can BB not figure out how to get him into the offense more, after the year he had???

Dominghosa, I guess its a matter of perspective. Bradley was one of the best players on the field for the U.S. which is not saying much. Still, he did what he is supposed to do, clog the middle make the opposition go through the outsides, which England did…and we paid for it with the loss of control of the wings.

DMB does not get a pass in my book. If he wasn’t fit he shouldn’t of been out there. Dempsey is capable of much more, but needs to simplify his play.

I agree on EJ. Best outing for him in a long time, (long time). Still lacks a good first touch, with a nice first touch he would be the best forward in the U.S. pool. but then again if I was 10 years younger, blond, blue-eyed, and sleeping with Angelina Jolie I’d be Brad Pitt.

m. bradley didn’t put a foot right tonight. what a nightmare! will everton pay $5mil for that??

i think a lot of our guys looked nervous out there from the start. some bad first touches and poor decisions. and with no true leader on the field, we never recovered.

i think that a 4-4-2 away at england is a ridiculous formation, particularly when both wide players are so attack minded for their clubs. what are we trying to prove? did wolff contribute anything today? wouldn’t we have been better off with another man behind the ball in the middle of the field?

Not sure what some of you guys were watching, but MB was terrible. Can you count the number of times his passes went to the other side? I’ve seen nothing of the flashes we’ve come to expect. Clark struggled in the first half but did much better after half time. Adu came on the field and looked comfy right away. BB needs to give him much more time. EJ wasn’t bad but I want to see more to justify his position. But we need to find players who are comfortable on the ball. Disappointing game..the score i can live with but not the performance.

This game exposed our lack of quality. It was the EPL vs. MLS. (Yeah…yeah, I know most of the roster was from Europe but the quality in midfield and forward line were all MLS products). The 2nd goal was a jog into the box and a simple pass beyond Guzan. Gerrard’s body language was, “this is so easy.”

My observations:

1. Dempsey seems to have regressed a little. He does not have the swagger he used to have and I wonder if his time in England has really helped his game. I say he would be better off in Spain or he should have gone to the Dutch league first to be schooled more in the game.

I am not hating on him. I love Dempsey, I think we have lost a little of him since his move to England. Something is different.

2. Eddie Johnson is one of our better players technically. Where is he mentally? Where has his swagger gone? Since he did so well his one year, he has regressed also. I like how he receives the ball at the 18 dribbles back 20 yards, gives up a weak pass that result in a turnover when we were in the final third. That’s not him.

Eddie, come back please wherever you went. Get your head back into the game, man.

3. It is time to let Freddy play a bigger role. I am not saying he is the greatest or the best player. I am saying its time to let the boy make an impact like we let Donovan and Beasely. He is a different player and showed some quality on the field. Let him take on more responsibility with the senior team.

4. I would like to see Kenny Cooper get a look on the NT. We miss a big strong forward. He is young too but could be the answer to missing McBride. If we can’t have Altidore, give Cooper a chance. (Sounds like a song – you know…like that Beatles song. Now everybody sing…”If we can’t have Altidore, give Cooper a chance”).

It was a disappointing result after strong performances earlier this year. Our set pieces were terrible today. We did not have the players to deliver a killer ball today.

Maybe if Donovan had been in to provide some service the result could have been different. Surprisingly, that is what we missed in him.

I understand that US fans love to pile on Eddie Johnson, but seriously, this is one of the better games that he’s played in a while for the Nats. He didn’t sit with his back to the goal the whole game and he looked to attack some. That shot he unleashed at the beginning of the second half was fierce, just a bit off. Maybe Fulham has helped a bit.

The defense looked pretty good overall, just getting beat on a set piece and a breakdown in the midfield. The midfield looked absolutely horrid. I didn’t expect a win, but I thought that we would hold our own…we did not.

Adu is the only one out there who looked like they had the skill to play on that English team. He had one bad ball and one bad free kick, but the bad ball I’m going to blame on “checkback johnson” and his lack of attacking desire not making a run. EJ was terrible. If people can’t see that then they never played. You can see it in the way he goes for the ball. He always starts his run half a step slow or pulls up at the end. He wants to get close to the pass or the header, but not so close that he’s forced to do something with it. He goes for head balls like I do, but I’m not professional. It’s more about knocking the other guy off then winning the ball. He is crap. He was terrible at Fulham. Beasley, Dempsey and Bradley are great players. I’ve watched clips of Bradley all year playing in Holland. That said, they all sucked today. Back line did well. I am disappointed that we haven’t progressed more than this since the world cup.

I only got to watch the second half, so my observations are based solely on that:

Our real weakness was in the midfield. We need midfielders who can keep possession of the ball, take on a defender when he needs to to create something. Without that our midfield cannot hold onto the ball for any length of time to pressure the opposing defense and find a weakness in the opponent’s defense. Instead that is what is happening to us. At least Adu ran at England a couple of times. Eddie Lewis did too, but than crossed the ball too early instead of continuing towards the goal and forcing a scramble.

Until the US Youth System produces players (midfielders) who are really comfortable on the ball, not just support/defensive players for European teams, the USMNT will struggle against the best.

The back line hung in relatively well but overall the performance from the U.S. was repulsive. England dominated and if they had finished all their chances it would’ve been 4-0. It’s disappointing and it definitely exposed our weaknesses as a national side. More than even the speed of the English side was the superior strategy. Unlike the Americans, they knew where they wanted to take the ball and were able to be the aggressor as a result. They were able to string together combinations moving forward to eventually create holes and break down the U.S. defense (especially on the second goal).

That said, I disagree with this fatalistic feeling of hopelessness of the US attack. We don’t need to throw up our hands and get Brazilians to marry American women (that joke was in bad taste, Ives). Our young USMT players coming up just need to focus on keeping possession with better first touches, moving the ball around more efficiently with quicker one-touch passing, maintaining their spacing and communication, improving their strength and conditioning to be able to win more 50/50 balls, and work on the accuracy of their long passing and shot making, especially off of set plays. Soccer has nothing to do with mysterious skills inherently beyond the American athlete’s mind. It’s simple execution and the U.S. team was dominated because they just weren’t as prepared, both individually and collectively as a unit, as England’s side. As we play more of these matches there will be more opportunity not only to test our current talent but also assess what skills we need to focus on developing in our U-21, etc. players moving forward. We have many good athletes already on our USMT but we’re just not as refined, confident, or imaginative as we could be. This is where we get beat against the highest quality competition in the world. It can be rectified with time and effort, though.

wats all this talk about MB playing good , did’nt even notice him in the game, the only thing good out there besides our defenders was Freddy he actually looked like he had some smarts on the ball but his cowardly attacking partners where too afraid to try anything he was up for.

Still waiting for Bob Bradley to turn this team around from the “disaster” that was Bruce Arena. Bruce Arena’s “disaster” was better than anything you will ever see from this team while bumbling nice guy Bradley is in charge.

It’s obvious we have practically nothing up front, but seriously, a has been and a mental case to start against England at Wembley? I thought EJ was the saviour? Wasn’t it Arena’s limited use of him that cost us elimination from the last world cup? Or was it that he didn’t make use of the fabulous Twellman and Ching the way he should have? Everything that’s happened since the last world cup has vindicated Bruce Arena completely. We wish we could play like we did in the last world cup.

Two more humiliations to come. Then we might just be able to beat a Central American team in WC qualifying. Maybe.

I can see it now. We’ll be eliminated from the World Cup in the first round under MUCH more favorable conditions than the last World Cup, and everyone will be giving Bob Bradley accolades. Nobody gives a damn about anything but personality anymore.

We must be the only national team on the planet with players out of contract starting in a major friendly. Can’t understand what the point is giving Wolff, Frankie, Lewis, etc. a run when they should be testing new talent. There’s something to giving them a testimonial appearance at Wembley – they’ve made their contributions over the years – but giving experience to Adu, Mapp and(insert other attacking-minded players that exist here) would be far more valuable.

In the end, the physical difference between our boys and the English and other countries in general at this point is obvious: they have the top echelon of athletes funneled into soccer from the start. While we do have talented players, they are slighter and far less ‘battle-hardened’ coming up through our youth system/college.

Finally, having the entire country behind you, no matter how small the nation, can only help give you the most complete passion for winning. It’s hard to find a player on our side with a stern brow of determination.

I had to catch this match on delay because I couldn’t get home in time to watch it, but here are some things I learned from this game:

-Josh Wolff? Useless.

-Eddie Johnson was certainly more adventurous today than he has been recently but was ineffective against a very good defense. I wrote him off as a bust as far back as the Copa America, but if he continues to improve the way he did today I’ll gladly accept that I was wrong and I won’t post angry anti-EJ comments on SBI anymore.

-Eddie Lewis still has something to offer. He should definitely be given a shot in WCQ’s and if he’s still in this kind of form in 2010, he should make the roster.

-Freddy Adu needs to be given a chance at starting. If we had had him the whole game I think we would have had alot more clear cut chances. (Having Lando on the field may have helped too.)

-I’d like to see more of a Bradley-Edu center midfield combiation. Bradley-Clark wasn’t abominable today but Edu should be given a chance.

-Until we have a forward who can win balls in the air (Hopefully Jozy in the very near future) long balls out of the back have to stop. I realize having a more effective central midfield that can do something with the ball would help this but long balls up to Josh Wolff just don’t work.

Wow. I was so excited about the way we had been playing recently until today. I was getting so mad I almost turned the game off at half time. What happened to us, we looked like children playing out there. Some thoughts…

-Ricardo Clark, not good. He was commiting stupid fouls and showing his lack of talent turning the ball over left and right

-Why why why Josh Wolff and not Altidore or Twellman? Either of the latter two would be leaps and bounds better

-Freddy Adu needs to be a starter from here on. Just playing the limited time he did gave us our best chances

-Not having Donovan on the field hurt us bad and you could see it, no playmaker willing to go at defenders and be successful; his pace was much needed

-Eddie Lewis needs to get more playing time, MUCH more

-We need to learn how to play more of a possesion game; booting the ball from the defense to forward DOES NOT work, work it up through midfield

….well with all that said I will say I think this rotation would give us our best opportunity to play well, god willing….

1. The US Forward pool is thin like Ally McBeal. Josh Wolff, nice to know ya. Eddie Johnson, lazy, no heart, desire. When will he learn that he cant rely on pure talent alone. I suggest he cannot be picked again for the national team until he proves something at Fulham when they start in August. Look at who was picked for the game. The forwards combined must have had the world record for “DNP-coaches decisions” on any international roster ever.

2. Freddy Adu needs to start fulltime starting against Spain. Now, before you guys get all in a uproar, hear me out. The top four most creative US Born players right now, in no particular order, are Donovan, Dempsey, Adu, and DMB. Why not just adopt they style of system that Man U used last season. In the sense that they never played with a traditional #9 last season. Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo, and Giggs spent all last season rotating left to right, forward and withdrawn, striker to midfield. Im not saying the results will be the same but, come 2010, wouldnt you like to see a fulltime lineup with these 4 in it. Do it now

I think Bob Bradley demonstrated today he really is the second coming of Bruce Arena circa 2005-2006…Lets cut our losses before any of us spend a ton of money to go to South Africa and see the same kind of garbage we saw in Germany. I can’t afford that again.

Keep Donovan for qualifiers and to play against Mexico…All those other guys I hope we don’t see again…

I agree with everything you said except your inclusion of Twellman and I’d switch Adu and Dempsey. Twellman’s been given so many chances and has shown he just doesn’t have the pace or finishing ability to compete at this level. The guy is a great MLS striker, but he isn’t the answer for this team. EJ may not have the finishing ability either, but he’s definitely got the pace and that makes space for someone like a Dempsey or Adu to play off. Altidore is definitely our best option up top even with his lack of senior team experience. McBride’s absence is killing us.

well well well what can i say another dissapointing performance by the good old usa. i was so excited for this game i really thought we had a chance, i even thought about betting on the usa, god im glad i didnt. I think the biggest problem we showed today was the coaching performance. what was bob bradley smoking today, can anyone explain to me how josh wolff started or even was included on this roster. He is straight garbage. what does he see in clark being paired with bradley they are the same player we already new this. the purpose of friendlies is to mix and match players usually ones that are young and need experience, this game would of been perfect for this. How freddy adu didnt start is beyond me and im still trying to figure that out. he has world class talent and he needs to be playing. he needs to play that #10 role with bradley holding in the midfield. Honestly i think the u23’s could of beatin this lineup today, were was sasja kleshtein or rogers these are the players we need playing not wolff, lewis, heyduk.

if we lose the next two games we need to call for bradleys head and get a world class coach that we should of gotten in the first place, all in all a terrible performance from our team…

Eddie Johnson was much more effective today than in the past, his possession play was good (didn’t turn the ball over much, and didn’t get caught dribbling into traps like he used to). I think a lot of the lack of possession in the final third can be attributed to Josh Wolf’s complete ineffectiveness, he didn’t get a single good touch on the ball. Also, EJ almost scored on his one good chance, and played in a dangerous cross that i didn’t know was capable of playing. Having Donovan up front with him would give him a ton more chances, that’ll be when we really see if he can make it work on this stage.

The midfield was dreadful, apart from Beasley. Clarke and Bradley had a ton of trouble keeping up with the England attack and holding onto the ball at all, let alone finding someone to make a forwards pass to. Dempsey was ok in the attacking third, but didn’t link up well, that might change with players like donovan and adu starting. his real flaws showed up in the defensive third, where he gave the ball away cheaply, in dangerous positions, multiple times.

As for the defense, Cherundolo is either out of form, which i’d like to think, or just isn’t cut out for this level of play. He got twisted and turned by anyone england through at him. Pearce played a solid game, and was the only back to get into the attack for the US. Hedjuk did decent late in the game, but a lot of his touches went nowhere. Onyewu was good, minus a couple rash challenges. bocanegra was good, minus a distinct lack of speed at this level.

conclusion: let’s start both donovan and adu. Maybe as CAMs? Adu surprised me with his ability to hold the ball, normally guys his size don’t maintain possession in the middle of the field well. On the other hand a guy like Donovan doesn’t, so maybe the combination of the two would give the US better possession in the middle and attacking thirds?

I have to say that I have been watching the US play for 15 plus years and this was one of the most disappointing games I have seen them lose. The lack of urgency really bothered me throughout the game and why Wolff and Rico were on the field at the start of the second half is baffling. The D was okay but the distribution from the back was horrible and the overall movement of the ball was lacking in quality in a severe way. EJ was actually not that bad and if the service was better he might have actually scored (yes I just said that). I am just really disappointed and this game ruined my week. I am glad I didn’t make the trip over as I had initially planned. I want to say Spain and Argentina are going to be better but both teams have offeneses three times as potent as England. I just really wanted us to beat England to shut that whole country up about how great they are and how much the US sucks. This whole thing has turned out horribly. I am a devote US soccer supporter and this game is absolutely crushing. Thank you USMNT for letting me and your country down.

Finally some people are actually seeing Bradley for what he really is- a nice guy and a mediocre coach, at best. I wouldn’t be too shocked if we had a hard time qualifying for the world cup. Especially when we have virtually no one who can score goals consistently.

It’s nice to see more and more people are noticing the absurdity, to put it mildly, that is Bradley’s reluctance to give Kenny Cooper a decent chance on the USMNT. I guess that’s just too much of a gamble when you have quality players like Josh Wolff and Eddie Johnson to play up front. Seriously, is there some kind of friction between these two? Kenny Cooper must be feeling pretty persecuted by now. I think I might be able to get a good chance as a striker on the USMNT before Cooper does.